HeyMate

Changelog

What's new.

Every HeyMate release, newest first. HeyMate checks for new releases on its own. Commit-level notes are on GitHub Releases.

Website & contributor update

· This update changes the website and project documentation, not the downloaded app.

  • A clearer starting point. The homepage now leads with step-by-step guidance for desktop apps and websites, with macOS shown as the current platform.
  • More precise information. Privacy, provider limits, and installation notes explain what is captured, what can run in the background, and the current signing limitations. The tour is labeled as recreated UI, and the download count includes DMG files only.
  • Easier to contribute. A contribution guide includes build instructions, a code map, and three small starter tasks. The existing MIT license is now available at the repository root.
  1. 1.0.83
    • Richer replies. Answers can arrive as tidy cards and layouts, not just text, and each reply sits in its own bubble so a conversation is easier to follow.
    • Usage for the AI you actually use. The notch shows usage only for your selected brain and the accounts you’re signed in to, and Claude usage no longer gets stuck on “Rate limited.”
    • Updates find you. HeyMate reminds you when a new version is ready, and can install updates on its own if you turn that on.
    • Easier everyday use. Bigger click targets, click anywhere outside to close the notch, HeyMate in the Dock by default, a warmer welcome tour, less filler text in settings, and dictation that pastes into the app you were using. Full release notes.
  2. 1.0.82
    • Replies right away. Your mate says what it’s about to do before it starts, so you hear back in seconds instead of waiting for the whole job.
    • Full access means full access. Reading things, like comments on a post, no longer asks for permission. When HeyMate does need your OK, it asks one plain question out loud and in the notch, and gives up after two minutes if you don’t answer.
    • No more silent failures. If a task runs out of time, you still get an answer from what was found. Pressing Escape in another app no longer cancels a reply that’s still being prepared. Full release notes.
  3. 1.0.81
    • A new home address. The website now lives at sayheymate.vercel.app, with a fresh sky banner when you share a link.
  4. 1.0.80
    • A voice built in. HeyMate ships its own on-device voice, and screen context reaches your mate reliably again.
    • Fewer needless asks. Full access stops prompting for things it already allows, and file paths are spoken as plain file names.
    • Smoother everyday bits. Sign-in, editing a mate, routines and quota reset details are clearer, and the drawing clear button sits centered on its display.
  5. 1.0.77
    • Hands on your Mac. A new native engine lets your mate click and type in apps for you.
    • Verified accounts. Connected accounts are checked before use, with a round of browser fixes.
    • Drawing, rebuilt. The on-screen drawing engine was rewritten from the ground up.
  6. 1.0.76
    • Help that points and draws. Your mate can draw circles, arrows, and cards in time with spoken explanations, with smoother cursor pointing and movement.
    • Your browser, already signed in. Agents can work in your signed-in Chrome, with their tabs kept together in a HeyMate tab group.
    • Follow the work. Floating job bubbles show what a task is doing and let you reply in place. Full release notes.
  7. 1.0.75
    • The agent sees what you mean. Your screen selection, saved memories for the mate you’re talking to, the current walkthrough step and attached images now reach the agent every turn.
    • Chat summaries keep up. Each mate’s running summary of recent chats updates again after every reply.
    • No false failures. If your Mac’s voice can’t play a reply, the answer stays in the chat without a “could not finish” error under it.
  8. 1.0.74
    • HeyMate’s own agent. The agent now runs on HeyMate’s built-in Pi harness. Pick a subscription or API key, model and effort in Brain, or change them right from the chat.
    • Add to a running task. Send a follow-up, an image or a screen while the agent works, and it joins the task instead of restarting it. Long tasks are told to wrap up before they run out of time.
    • Safer actions. HeyMate keeps a record of every action it has taken in a chat, so a retry never sends twice, even after a long chat is summarized. Questions from the agent can offer suggested answers.
    • A seamless notch. The notch gradient now flows across the whole workspace and the active chat’s neck.
  9. 1.0.72
    • A clearer usage notch. Codex, Claude Code and Cursor usage now fits in a compact row of provider logos and rings, with more detail behind a chevron.
    • Your own usage sources. Add a JSON usage endpoint in Settings → Notch, with percentage or used-and-limit fields and an optional reset time. Saved tokens stay in Keychain.
    • A smoother notch edge. The attached panel blends from black at the notch into its gray background, without a hard line across the neck.
  10. 1.0.70
    • Coding usage at a glance. Connect Codex, Claude Code and Cursor in Settings → Notch to see usage rings and reset times. The notch also shows activity and approval requests for agents running through HeyMate.
    • Your mate eats file drops. Drag files onto the notch to open your mate’s mouth and reveal the file shelf. Original files stay in place.
    • Optional usage analytics. Analytics stays off until you enable Share usage analytics. Events exclude messages, screenshots, file names, file paths and provider credentials; turning sharing off clears the local analytics ID.
  11. 1.0.69
    • More reliable release signing. Release checks preserve the app’s signature before packaging updates.
  12. 1.0.68
    • Maintenance build.
  13. 1.0.67
    • Blobatar characters. Every new agent gets its own Blobatar, a soft character that breathes, blinks and follows your pointer with its eyes. Pick one of six looks, tap “New look” for a fresh one, or keep a face or your own picture. Blobatar is by Alain, MIT licensed.
    • Milo and Nova look at you. Their portraits in the sidebar and profile follow your pointer with their eyes.
    • Approvals in plain words. An approval card now names the app and the action, like “Gmail: Fetch message by thread ID”, with the raw tool details tucked behind Details. Reading a Gmail thread no longer asks for approval as if it were sending something; replying, posting and sending still do.
  14. 1.0.66
    • Hermes, built in. HeyMate now ships its own Hermes runtime for Apple silicon and Intel, so you can connect Hermes as an engine without installing it yourself. Each chat keeps its context, and connected apps are offered to Hermes only for the turn that needs them.
    • Gmail you can trust. When an agent says it drafted, sent or changed something in Gmail, HeyMate checks that the action really succeeded before showing the reply. Gmail tools now run on HeyMate's own signed copy of Node.
  15. 1.0.64
    • Meet Milo and Nova. Two new characters to give HeyMate and your agents a face, with hairstyles, hair and skin colors, eye colors and outfits to choose from.
    • Smoother setup. Voice setup and OpenCode onboarding are clearer, and agent pages got a round of polish.
  16. 1.0.63
    • A snappier notch. The notch opens in about a quarter of a second and closes faster, with no zoom or blur.
    • Sounds for everything that opens. Popovers pop, sheets swell, side panes swish, disclosure rows tick, and hovering the notch makes a soft breath. Each one is quieter than opening the notch on purpose.
    • Fixes. Settings reopens after you change where HeyMate sits, and the ready dot keeps its gentle hover bounce.
  17. 1.0.62
    • Faces that react. Agent faces follow your pointer, blink and breathe, and drawn faces move too. Click one for a wink or a boop, or double-click for a giggle. When a job finishes its agent hops; when one fails it wobbles. Reduce Motion, or turning off idle animations, keeps them still.
    • See what a job is doing. While an agent works, its face shows whether it's reading, writing, using tools or browsing the web.
    • A smaller notch. The notch card takes much less room: the ask box sits at the top, Window, Integrations and Settings are one row of icons, and the empty "Latest from your agents" section is gone. The notch card and the window hanging from the notch no longer open at the same time.
    • Floating job cards. Running jobs and finished-task notices float at the top corner of each screen. Cards slide in, bob gently while working and hold still when you point at them. They stay out of full-screen apps.
    • New sounds for opening and closing, messages, jobs starting, needing you and finishing, and a few reactions.
    • A Permissions page in Settings shows what macOS allows HeyMate to do. If keyboard shortcuts can't work, the notch opens once to say why.
    • Steadier routines. A routine due when HeyMate opens no longer waits for the internet by mistake, and routines start again soon after your Mac wakes. A repeat run reports only what's new, and after a run that didn't finish, it checks before doing anything twice.
    • Fixes. A failed Composio connect can be retried, and the chat box stays open while its menus are showing.
  18. 1.0.59
    • A welcome tour. HeyMate's first launch opens a short tour. Pick how it sounds: the Mac voice, typing only, or the on-device voice, which you can hear before downloading. Then turn on permissions one at a time, choose your AI, check your mic, and try talking. Answer three quick questions so HeyMate learns your name and suggests agents, and practice asking about something on screen. You can pick up where you left off, or replay it from Settings.
    • One Integrations page. Integrations and Settings share one sidebar, and the Composio key lives on the Integrations page. GitHub shows once, whether it's connected through the gh tool on your Mac or through Composio, and works without Composio.
    • Jobs live with their agent. There's no separate Activity page or notch tab. Work waiting on you shows above the chat box in the agent's chat, where you can read a plan and approve it, and on the notch's Home. Standing orders and Undo last work are gone for now.
    • Paste screenshots. ⌘V in the chat box attaches a copied screenshot or image, or image files copied in Finder.
    • Fixes. Contacts and Calendar permission requests now go through.
  19. 1.0.55
    • Maintenance build.
  20. 1.0.51
    • Typing dots in the notch. While HeyMate is thinking or replying, three small dots hop beside the camera instead of a status word.
  21. 1.0.50
    • HeyMate stays. The main HeyMate agent can no longer be deleted by accident. Delete only shows for the agents you made.
    • Plain agent pictures. Pick a picture for an agent, or use your own. The color, hair, and outfit add-ons and the blinking face are gone.
  22. 1.0.48
    • Make an agent from one sentence. Say what it should do, and your own AI drafts its name, personality, the habits it keeps, what it must ask you before doing, a first task, and the apps it needs. Change anything before you create it. The old “Meet a cast” templates are gone.
    • Agents remember how they work. An agent's habits are saved in its own folder, so it follows them on every run and in every chat. Older agents get a Draft habits button.
    • Just HeyMate and your agents. The main chat is called HeyMate again, everyone else is an agent, and the list of running work is now Activity.
    • Integrations, shared by every agent. Apps are now Integrations. Connect one once and every agent can use it. The page shows what's on at the top.
    • Allow all, once. One list covers every permission HeyMate uses, and each line says what it unlocks, like “HeyMate can see your screen when you ask.” Allow all walks through them, and HeyMate never blocks you or asks again on launch if one is off.
    • Any OpenAI-compatible API. Besides Anthropic-compatible servers, HeyMate now talks to OpenAI, OpenRouter, Groq, LM Studio, Ollama, and other OpenAI-compatible servers.
    • Updates install themselves. HeyMate checks every few hours and updates in the background, and your permissions carry over.
    • Fixes. A question that mentions an account or password gets an answer instead of a confirm card. Chimes no longer go quiet while HeyMate itself is listening. The notch's shortcut row can't be pushed out of view by a long agent list.
  23. 1.0.46
    • Safer on the web. Web pages you visit can no longer reach HeyMate's built-in local server, so a site can't make HeyMate speak, take a screenshot, or add a mate behind your back.
    • Every release is checked by hand. New versions are now approved before they're signed and published, and the build signs HeyMate before running any outside tools.
  24. 1.0.44
    • Chats and Agents, side by side. The window's sidebar now has two tabs: Chats for your own conversations with HeyMate, and Agents for everyone else. New chat always starts fresh with HeyMate.
    • Meet a cast. Answer a few questions and HeyMate suggests three agents for the work you do, each with its own face. New face packs (Signal, Margin, and Instrument) join the originals, and your existing agents keep the faces they have.
    • Talk to a working agent from the notch. Mates are now called agents everywhere, and you can send one a follow-up from the notch while it's still working.
  25. 1.0.42
    • The window hangs from the notch. HeyMate's window now drops out of the notch on a narrow neck and folds away when you switch apps. Detach it to get a normal window, and attach it back with one click.
    • An inbox for your mates. The sidebar shows each mate's latest message and when it arrived. Each mate has a profile with a big portrait, its routines, and its files as thumbnails, and an empty chat leads with a big Hold to talk button.
    • Dictation learns your words. Fix a word HeyMate typed for you and it hears that word right next time. Learned words are listed, and can be cleared, in Settings › Talk & Voice.
    • Pick a voice by ear. Choose from ten on-device voices by tapping to hear each one, and set how fast HeyMate talks (0.75× to 1.5×).
    • Small things that add up. Esc stops a reply, talking keeps working when you switch microphones or AirPods connect, screenshots no longer pick HeyMate's invisible overlay, jobs play a sound when they start, need you, or finish, and shortcuts show as key caps.
  26. 1.0.41
    • Ctrl + Option works again. HeyMate now asks for Input Monitoring, which newer macOS needs before an app can hear a shortcut. Once you allow it, the shortcuts start working right away, no restart needed.
  27. 1.0.40
    • Talk is always HeyMate. Push-to-talk and the notch now always reach HeyMate itself, never whichever mate's chat is open. Saying a mate's name out loud no longer switches who answers.
    • A teacher with attitude. HeyMate talks like an older sibling leaning over your shoulder: cheerful, encouraging, and very sarcastic, but it always shows you exactly how to do the thing.
    • Talk keeps its own memory. HeyMate remembers your conversations separately from your mates, and your mates' chats stay out of its replies.
  28. 1.0.39
    • Create a mate in chat. An explicit request to create a named mate now happens locally, with its own greeting and editable starter, without starting a coding job.
    • Your mate remembers its role. Replies retain the mate's name, job, personality, and saved notes. Conversation summaries stay with the mate they belong to.
    • Replies stay in the right chat. Switching conversations cancels an in-progress reply, while background jobs keep their original chat.
    • Get the job's actual answer. Successful agent jobs return their answer to the conversation that started them. Missing results are reported as unverified instead of a generic success.
  29. 1.0.38
    • A lighter app. HeyMate now ships without leftover test instrumentation, so it does a little less work while it runs.
    • Jobs leave nothing behind. A job that finishes cleanly no longer leaves an error line in its log, so the log is removed as soon as the job ends.
  30. 1.0.37
    • Save a chat as a PDF. In chat history, PDF… sits next to Save… and writes the whole conversation as a printable PDF.
    • A tidier Logs folder. Background job logs that were left empty are removed when the job ends, and logs older than a week are cleared out when HeyMate starts.
  31. 1.0.36
    • Replies start sooner. HeyMate keeps its connections warm and does the heavy lifting off the main thread, so the window stays responsive while an answer streams in.
    • Pointing works with computer use. When HeyMate controls your Mac, the cursor now flies to the right spot on the right display.
    • Setup names your real shortcut. Onboarding shows the Talk shortcut you actually use, and can be cancelled cleanly at any step.
    • No more stalls on big scripts. Automations that print a lot of output no longer hang.
    • HeyMate is fully its own. New license and names throughout, with open-source credits listed in Settings.
  32. 1.0.35
    • A chat window that makes sense. Click a mate anywhere on its row to open the chat, and use the pencil to edit it. Apps and Settings are labeled in the sidebar, and the chat header sits up beside the window buttons.
    • Choose apps for a chat in one place. The Apps button next to the message box lists every connected app with its logo and an on/off switch, and stays open while you pick.
    • Real logos. Claude, ChatGPT, and your connected apps now show their own icons in Settings and the chat.
    • Chats open on the newest reply. The latest answer no longer hides under the message box, and a Latest button brings you back down after scrolling up.
    • Calmer messages, easier buttons. Copy, edit, regenerate, and delete appear as icons when you point at a message. Buttons are easier to hit, and headings in replies read cleanly.
  33. 1.0.33
    • Settings titles tuck away as you scroll. On long Settings pages the section name moves into a slim bar at the top.
    • Reduce Motion is respected. With Reduce Motion on, Settings fades between pages instead of jumping.
  34. 1.0.32
    • A calmer Settings. Eight clear sections, from General to Privacy & Data, in a sidebar that works in light and dark.
    • Find any setting by name. Press ⌘F, type what you're after, and HeyMate jumps to that setting and highlights it.
    • Shortcut clashes are caught. If two shortcuts share the same keys, both show a warning, and Restore defaults puts them back.
    • Nothing is erased without asking. Signing out, removing keys, and erasing data always ask first.
  35. 1.0.31
    • HeyMate points one step at a time. Ask how something works and the cursor flies to each part in turn, saying and showing that step before it moves on.
    • Walkthroughs that remember where you are. Ask "show me how to…" and HeyMate guides the first step, waits for you to click it, takes a fresh look, and guides the next until you're done. Press Escape to stop.
    • Captions you can actually read. The text beside the cursor now stays while HeyMate is speaking and fades a moment after it finishes, instead of vanishing early.
    • "How do I…" questions see your screen. HeyMate now looks at your screen for how-to questions, so it can point at the right button.
  36. 1.0.30
    • A smoother on-device voice. Replies no longer pause for nearly a second between sentences, so HeyMate sounds like it's talking, not reading a list.
    • No wait on the first reply. The on-device voice now gets ready when HeyMate opens, so your first answer starts speaking right away instead of after several seconds.
  37. 1.0.29
    • Talk starts the instant you press. The mic turns on the moment the shortcut goes down, so your first words are no longer cut off while HeyMate connects.
    • Your installed app stays put. Opening the Permissions card no longer replaces the HeyMate in your Applications folder.
  38. 1.0.28
    • "What am I looking at?" just works. Questions about what's in front of you now always include your screen, and a quick "hi" no longer drags the chat back to your last topic.
    • Push-to-talk never gets stuck. If macOS misses the moment you let go of the shortcut, HeyMate notices and stops listening anyway.
    • Easier permission setup. The whole HeyMate.app card in Permissions is now a drag handle, and dragging it into System Settings works on the first try.
    • A smoother notch. The card opens with a softer, liquid motion, connector suggestions show each app's real logo, and Quit now sits in the top-right corner.
  39. 1.0.27
    • Connected apps come back on their own. If HeyMate's link to Composio was lost while your key and connected apps were still saved, it reconnects at launch, so mates can read your Gmail and Calendar again instead of starting a job that opens the Mail app.
  40. 1.0.26
    • Email questions answered in chat. Ask a mate about your inbox or calendar and it uses your connected Gmail and Google Calendar right away, instead of starting a slow job that opens the Mail app.
    • No duplicate jobs. If a mate's plan is waiting for your approval and you ask again, it reminds you to approve it instead of starting a second job.
  41. 1.0.25
    • No more password prompts after updates. Saved keys (Composio, ElevenLabs, custom API, app connectors) now live in a private file only your Mac account can read, instead of the Keychain. The first launch moves your existing keys over, which may ask one last time.
    • A quieter notch. The shortcut labels and unread-count badges are gone. Mates with something new show a small dot instead.
  42. 1.0.23
    • Mates use app control. With Computer control on and the Cua driver installed, asking a mate to do something in another app now starts a job for it, instead of the mate saying it can't.
  43. 1.0.22
    • Talk no longer gets stuck. A press that heard nothing, or that you let go of too quickly, could leave HeyMate showing Listening until you restarted it. It now goes straight back to ready.
    • Steadier status. The notch no longer flickers while the microphone starts, and keeps showing that it's working while your words are being transcribed.
  44. 1.0.20
    • Conversations that flow. With Claude or Codex answering, a chat now keeps one live session, so follow-ups pick up where you left off instead of starting cold. Replies appear word by word as they're written.
    • Background app control. Turn on Computer control in Settings and press Install to add Cua's open-source driver. Approved jobs can then work in other apps in the background, without taking your cursor or focus.
    • Still your call. App control only runs inside a plan you approved. Jobs can never read or change your clipboard, reconfigure the driver, or install anything.
  45. 1.0.19
    • A private voice, on your Mac. Download the on-device voice once (about 600 MB) and HeyMate listens with Parakeet and talks with Kokoro, all on your Mac, offline and free. It's offered during setup and in Settings, and needs an Apple Silicon Mac.
    • Bring your own ElevenLabs. Paste your ElevenLabs API key in Settings to use ElevenLabs for listening, with your words appearing live as you talk, and for speaking. The free plan works.
    • Never left silent. If ElevenLabs or the on-device voice can't run, HeyMate falls back to your Mac's voice for that turn. The Mac voice now picks the best voice you have installed and skips the novelty ones.
    • Simpler voice options. AssemblyAI and OpenAI transcription are gone. If you had picked one, HeyMate moves you to ElevenLabs, or to your Mac if you haven't added a key.
  46. 1.0.18
    • One friendly ask. After HeyMate has answered five of your questions, it offers once to open the GitHub page so you can star it. Say "Not now" and it never asks again.
  47. 1.0.17
    • Agents can add mates. When a plan you approve calls for new mates, the job now creates them, each with its own chat and folder.
    • Honest results. A job that couldn't finish now shows as Failed with a reason, not "Work completed".
    • Approve plan works in big projects. Build and dependency folders no longer count toward the undo size limit, and if approval can't start you'll see why next to the button.
  48. 1.0.16
    • Maintenance build. No visible changes.
  49. 1.0.15
    • Faster Talk with Codex. HeyMate keeps Codex warm, so spoken answers start sooner.
  50. 1.0.14
    • Gmail and Google Calendar, no extra sign-in. HeyMate reads them through the accounts already on your Mac.
    • Faster Talk with Claude. Answers come from a Claude Code process that's already running.
  51. 1.0.13
    • One-click sign-in. Connect Claude or ChatGPT during setup without opening Terminal.
    • Simpler layout. The app comes down to three places: Chat, Apps, and Settings.
    • Settings is split into General, Accounts, Notch, Privacy, and Advanced tabs.
  52. 1.0.12
    • Silent mode is easier to reach, and its replies read better on screen.
  53. 1.0.11
    • Silent mode. Type to HeyMate instead of talking, and read the answer instead of hearing it.
  54. 1.0.10
    • Mates now reliably start agent work when you ask them to.
  55. 1.0.9
    • Every mate can run agents. Any mate can plan and do real work in its folder, not just First Mate.
  56. 1.0.8
    • Fixed a crash on launch in release builds.
    • An expired Claude or ChatGPT sign-in is now explained instead of shown as a raw error.
    • A mate opens with one click even when the window isn't focused.
    • The notch brings plan approvals into view and counts failed jobs.
    • Background agents work with Codex installed through npm.
  57. 1.0.6
    • Send feedback by email with your version details attached, and find a link explaining every permission.
  58. 1.0.5
    • Works on Macs without a notch. HeyMate lives in a menu bar home instead.
    • Built-in updates. HeyMate tells you when a new release is out and installs it for you.
  59. 1.0.4
    • First public release. The notch home, mates with their own faces, memory and folders, coding agents with plan approval and undo, connected apps, and chat history.
    • Install with one Terminal command that skips the macOS malware warning.